Sunshine Week discussion, March 15: Press freedom, investigative journalism

March 15 kicks off Sunshine Week, a time when journalists and news organizations promote open government and “sunshine” laws that require government business to be publicly accessible. 

As part of Sunshine Week, the National Press Club Journalism Institute and the National Press Club’s Press Freedom Team plan to host a discussion on public access to information and the role that investigative journalism plays in restoring public trust, with practical advice from Associated Press global investigations editor Ron Nixon and The Markup President Nabiha Syed, moderated by CQ Roll Call senior writer John Donnelly. 

Registration is now open for this program, scheduled for Monday, March 15, 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The Institute has waived fees for all of its services due to the pandemic. In that spirit, we ask you to consider making a donation to support programs like this one.

At this virtual panel, participants are expected to learn:

• How to overcome obstacles and access government information
• Methods for diversifying investigative teams and what/who journalists investigate 
• Ways news organizations are addressing escalating threats to journalists 

Nixon is the global investigations editor at the Associated Press. Nixon joined the AP in early 2019 as international investigations editor, managing a team of investigative reporters in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to joining the AP, he was homeland-security correspondent for the New York Times, where he covered border and aviation security, immigration, cybercrime and violent extremism. He is the author of the book Selling Apartheid: South Africa’s Global Propaganda War, and is the co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society, which trains journalists of color in investigative reporting. He previously worked as data editor at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, as training director at Investigative Reporters and Editors, and as an environment and investigative reporter at the Roanoke Times in Virginia.

Syed is president of The Markup, where she oversees strategy, growth plans, business operations, legal, communications, personnel and other operational matters. Before joining The Markup, Syed was vice president and associate general counsel at BuzzFeed, where she counseled on newsgathering, libel, and privacy matters worldwide. Under her leadership, the company successfully defended against libel litigation arising out of the publication of the Steele dossier and initiated a number of lawsuits aimed at gaining access. Prior to BuzzFeed, Syed co-founded the nation’s first media access law clinic, currently in its 10th year of operation at Yale Law School, and served as a First Amendment Fellow at the New York Times. She has been described as “one of the best emerging free speech lawyers” by Forbes magazine, and a “real reporter’s lawyer” by the Reporter’s Committee for the Freedom of the Press, which recognized her with an inaugural award in 2018. 

Donnelly is a senior writer for CQ Roll Call, who specializes in defense and writes CQ’s Executive Briefing-Defense, a blog on national security and defense issues. Prior to his arrival at CQ in 2004, he worked as a reporter (and later editor) at Defense Week, a newsletter that covered the Pentagon, the defense industry and the congressional defense panels. He has netted numerous awards for investigative reporting, and he is a frequent guest on television and radio news programs. Donnelly is the chair of the Club’s Press Freedom Team and in that capacity has written countless statements advocating for the release of imprisoned journalists and the safe treatment of all journalists.